The White House said on Monday it will wait for results of a probe into two Iranians arrested in Iraq before judging whether they confirm Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs.
US forces in Iraq arrested the pair after releasing two other Iranians who had diplomatic immunity.
The White House declined to reveal the nature of charges against the detainees, but cited Iranian "meddling" in Iraqi affairs.
"We suspect this event validates our claims about Iranian meddling, but we want to finish our investigation of the detained Iranians before characterizing their activities," White House spokesman Alex Conant said.
"We will be better able to explain what this means about the larger picture after we finish our investigation," Conant said.
The spokesman said two of the detainees had been handed over to Iraqi authorities.
"Two had diplomatic immunity and were released to the GOI [Government of Iraq] which released them to their government. We continue to work with the GOI on the status of the remaining detainees. That investigation is going well," Conant said.
The arrests came amid mounting diplomatic tension between Iran, the US and the international community, after the UN Security Council voted to impose sanctions on Iran's nuclear program.
The US has accused Tehran of feeding the violence in Iraq, saying it sees Iranian fingerprints on Shiite militias and the makeshift roadside bombs that have killed many US soldiers.
The Iraqi government protested the arrests, saying that two of the detainees were invitees of President Jalal Talabani.
"Two [individuals] who were invited by the president to Iraq have now been apprehended by the Americans and the president is unhappy with the arrests," Hiwa Osman, Talabani's media adviser, said.
"The invitation was within the framework of an agreement between Iran and Iraq to improve the security situation," he added.
US commanders in Iraq regularly accuse Iran of fomenting unrest, but the Shiite-led Baghdad government has pursued closer security ties with Tehran.
Iran expressed displeasure over the detentions.
"A few days ago we became aware that US forces, contrary to international laws, had arrested Iranian diplomats who were invited by the Iraqi government," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.
"This action is not compatible with international law and it will have unpleasant consequences," he said.
White House officials cited by the New York Times said that the Iranians included two "senior military officials" with links to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit that allegedly trains Lebanon's Hezbollah.
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